Physical security is a social requirement for the operation of a cultural institution, for the physical safety of its staff, for the maintenance of peace and decorum for public visitors, and for the maintenance of public appearances and reputation that encourages donations, continued government funding, and confidence in that institution's management and administration.
The director of a cultural institution should require that certain physical security policies and procedures be required of all property and building users.
The primary person responsible for security usually suggests and drafts these policies and procedures; staffs them through such institution offices as Personnel, Legal, Administration, Insurance, Building Management, and Union Representatives; submits them for the institution director to approve and distribute; and monitors conditions that may require later amendments.

Categories of institution level physical security procedures are:

• Determination of protection needs and their funding requirements
• Use of identification cards and other access control mechanisms
• Use and control of locks, keys, keycards, and cipher entries
• Use of alarms and other security alert systems
• Investigation procedures and requirements, internal and external
• Non collection property management procedures, including
• identification, tagging, and inventory, and hand receipt requirements
• Collection property management procedures, including identification, tagging, and inventory, hand receipt, and physical protection requirements
• Exit clearance requirements for the return of keys and other access devices
• Standards of conduct and ethics, including the use of property, space, institution name, and questions of personal actions or business connected with the institution
• Special events requirements and control
• Public information control and clearances
• Insurance and risk management policy and procedures
• Use and control of property passes for one time removals and repeated removals for work equipment
• Physical security review requirements for all construction before, during, and on completion.
• Negotiable handling and auditing procedures for personnel, negotiable accountability, and auditing (including tickets, money handling, check and voucher writing, petty cash drawers, funding accountability, purchasing, and retail procedures)
• Background check legal policy, requirements and procedures for different categories of staff and other workers using the grounds or buildings. The primary person responsible for security develops the security responsibilities given to staff and others using the building and grounds; staffs them through appropriate institution offices as Personnel, Legal, Administration, Insurance, Building Management, and Union Representatives; submits them for the review by the institution director; issues them to appropriate staff; and monitors conditions that may require later amendments.

Categories of security staff physical security procedures are:

• Chain of command, responsibility, instructions and information Practices and responsibilities for maintaining security posts and schedules
• Overtime request, justifications, approvals, and funding
• Conduct and discipline of those performing security functions
• Assignment, promotion, and evaluation of those performing security functions
• Use and control of weapons and any use of force
• Radio Communications
• Use and control of vehicles and other equipment
• Alarm handling and alarm troubleshooting responsibilities and procedures
• Security container, equipment, and security keys handling, use, and accountability
• Special requirements for maintaining security in emergency or on recall
• Personnel access responsibilities and procedures for authorizing and controlling, during open, closed, construction, and emergency conditions
• Security staff appearance standards
• Disciplinary procedures for standard kinds of offenses
• External security procedures during open, closed, construction, and emergency conditions
• Perimeter security standards and response to problems
• Security staff responsibilities and procedures during fire, bomb and bomb threat, disaster, violence, crime, medical, and other emergencies
• Security staff responsibilities and procedures for providing information and public services to visitors and other staff
• Lost and found procedures, including the handling of great valuables
• Security staff procedure for commissioning and arming of special staff
• Procedure for routine and special investigations and audits, internal and external

Policy making is often reserved for directors or specially designated staff. Guidelines, procedures and responsibilities are implementations of policy documents. Regulations are enforceable and should include penalties for deliberate violations or infractions.
Guidance and regulatory documents are different; regulatory documents can be enforced and have penalties. Both should be indexed and available to everyone at all times.
Documents that are very specific are often considered nit-picking and become both obsolete and ignored quickly. Documents that are too general are often misunderstood and not considered in the manner that they were intended. Documents that are too long are not fully read. Documents that are too short are considered incomplete.

Policy
This institution wants to provide the safest facility for visitors and workers possible. This institution wants to know when any illegal, violent, abusive or threatening behavior occurs on our premises in order to take action to prevent injury, damage, or interruption of operation, and prevention of another occurrence.
This institution does not tolerate any unauthorized person to carry firearms, deadly weapons, or clearly dangerous materials on our premises, in accordance with local laws, and posts its property and facilities accordingly. The institution intends to detain and turn over to police authorities any visitors or staff who break major criminal laws or who display a serious or immediate threat to themselves or others. This is for the protection of the public, other visitors, the institution, staff, the person or persons themselves, and the continuation of facility operations.
This institution does not tolerate illegal, violent, abusive, or threatening behavior on our premises. The institution holds each individual accountable for his or her actions on our premises. The institution requires violent, abusive or threatening visitors to leave, when the offense is not serious or immediate enough to pose either an immediate threat or a violation of local law. The institution requires violent, abusive or threatening staff to not exhibit these behaviors on our premises and to immediately cease these behaviors when reminded to do so. The institution intends to intervene in each situation that is an illegal act, that disrupts workers or facility operation, or that threatens to do so.
Definitions: The term staff includes employees, volunteers, interns, students, tenants, office visitors, contract workers, visiting workers, and board members. The term visitors includes public visitors to our premises, sometimes called patrons.

Definition: Illegal actions are defined by local law and institutional rules that are enforced. Violence, abuse and threats include physical or verbal aggression toward others; and verbalization, writing, gestures, or other forms of expression which could be interpreted by a reasonable person to communicate a direct, indirect, or potential threat to the institution, others, or oneself,
The institution intends to provide each visitor and staff a safe facility. The institution provides facilities, regulatory procedures and inspections to promote safety and security. The institution responds to each report of concern and seeks to improve each questionable condition to everyone's satisfaction.
This institution requires its staff to protect the interests of the public, visitors, and other staff. The institution requires staff to take reasonable actions to protect life first, and then property and facilities on our premises.
The institution considers any violent, abusive or threatening behavior by staff as cause for disciplinary action, to include dismissal. Managers and supervisors are accountable for taking appropriate action to prevent illegal, violent, abusive or threatening behavior from occurring; to know if any illegal, violent, abusive or threatening behavior occurs; and to take action to take reasonable actions to protect life first, and then property and facilities on our premises.

In an emergency
Call 911 and\or your security staff when a situation requires the immediate assistance of law enforcement or medical assistants. Report the exact location of the emergency. Stay on the scene where it is safe. Be prepared to make a statement of the circumstances that you experience. Then follow the non emergency steps below.
Report situations that are not serious or not an immediate threat to your supervisor, to management, or to persons in human resources\personnel administrative office\employee assistance counseling program staff. Do not feel uncomfortable to ask for corrective action, to report the situation to more than one person, or to require rapid, effective action.

Staff responsibilities
The institution requires each staff member to

• be responsible for his or her own behavior;
• interact courteously and ethically with visitors, supervisors, and other staff;
• be alert for evidence of real violent, abusive, or threatening behavior that he or she personally witnesses, or planned violent or disruptive behavior of which he or she has knowledge;
• quickly report the situation as defined above to his or her supervisor, management, security office or human resources\personnel administrative office\employment assistance counseling program staff.

• The institution requires each immediate supervisor, especially, and each manager to
• be responsible as staff members in the manners defined above;
• assist in a swift and effective response to each situation that poses a serious threat to life, property, or facility operation;
• when an illegal, violent, abusive or threatening behavior occurs, seek advice from a representative from security, human resources\personnel administrative office\employment assistance counseling program, or other member of the crisis management team defined below, and inform your supervisor or manager of the actions recommended or taken.
• when an illegal, violent, abusive or threatening behavior occurs involving staff under your responsibility, take reasonable steps to intercede to preserve life, property, and facility operation, and prepare to take corrective and disciplinary or other administrative action to prevent further disruptive behavior or threat of behavior.
• keep evidence and interview those involved; and
• be alert to undesirable or unexplainable changes in behavior which may indicate hostility or require further supervisory action, using advice from human resources\personnel administrative office\employment assistance counseling program staff when appropriate.

The crisis management group and the crisis management team

The institution requires a crisis management group to react to each situation of illegal, violent, abusive, or threatening behavior. The crisis management group contacts each other and assembles a crisis management team of representatives who are appropriate to respond to the particular situation.
The crisis management group accepts questions and information from anyone about the illegal, violent, abusive, or threatening behavior against the institution, staff, visitors on the premises, facility, or facility operations. The crisis management group evaluates the quality and gravity of the information before taking action.
The crisis management group fully consists of a principal and secondary representative from

security and medical assistance;
human resource\personnel administrative office\employment assistance counseling program; and
management, legal services, and risk and damage assessment.
The institution may require other institutional representatives to render advice, respond to a specific situation, or take specialized actions as additional group members permanently or as team members for a specific situation. The crisis management group may consider staff from other office functions such as public affairs for public reporting, union representatives for concerns from unions involved, external emergency and social services to provide specialized assistance, and disciplinary and ombudsman representatives to assist with counseling and administrative actions.
The institution requires security officers and medical assistants to

• quickly respond to each serious situation of illegal, violent, abusive, or threatening behavior to take reasonable actions to protect life first, and then property and facilities on our premises;
• provide immediate medical care to injured persons, make medical referrals for action, and offer post-trauma counseling, as needed;
• physically segregate and detain the person or persons committing the act, and call for police assistance as required;
• report, keep evidence and interview those involved; and
• consult with crisis management representatives to determine other actions to take, and take reasonable actions to prevent these situations from occurring again.

• advise supervisors and managers of the appropriate administrative disciplinary action to take, in response to illegal, violent, threatening, and disruptive conduct, with emphasis on recognizing abusive behavior early, and using progressively more serious disciplinary action in order to encourage a positive change in behavior;
• evaluate the motivation of the threatening person, and make medical and psychological, social support professional referrals as necessary; provide support and consultation to victims, witnesses, and supervisors; and review followup actions for their appropriateness and effectiveness; and
• provide training for the avoidance of illegal, violent, abusive, and threatening behavior, specifying what behaviors are appropriate and inappropriate.

• provide legal advice to managers and supervisors regarding appropriate actions to take, and their possible effects;
• evaluate the risk and damage to individuals, the institution, the facility, and the facility operation; and
• involve other institution offices that require involvement such as public affairs for public reporting, union representatives for concerns from union members involved, disciplinary and ombudsman representatives for appropriateness of disciplinary responses against staff.

Preventive Measures

The institution requires each manager and supervisor to be aware of their responsibilities through training. Supervisors are responsible for educating and supervising their subordinates.
Institution managers intend to quickly identify and respond to institution situations that prompt or support illegal, violent, abusive or threatening behavior.
The institution requires each hiring staff to carefully review applications and interview and select persons for work on the premises who do not have a record or personal habit of demonstrating a preference for illegal, violent, abusive, or threatening behavior. The institution requires interviewing and hiring staff to contact prior employers to verify work history and inquire about the applicant's performance and conduct, documenting the information in the applicant's record. This screening is most important for those who work with public visitors or with children, in work involving potentially dangerous equipment, and in situations of high stress.
The institution requires supervisors to closely monitor the behavior of newly hired staff during their initial term of probation to determine their suitability during this trial period of work, providing counseling where required and taking action before the end of the probationary period to dismiss staff who have a high potential for illegal, violent, abusive, or threatening behavior.
The institution relies upon first and second line supervisors to personally know and respond to issues affecting staff under their control. Supervisors should contact crisis management group members for advice when they believe that such advice can further benefit staff working situations. Supervisors should consider progressive discipline as a tool for conformity with appropriate institution behavior, to include dismissal. Supervisors should especially consider consulting with human resources\personnel administrative office\employee assistance counseling program staff who can provide advice on how to react to the behavior, how to handle the reactions by other staff, and how to encourage the staff to find self help.

Background
As a nationwide situation, workplace violence has increased and is recognized as a leading cause of fatal injuries in the workplace. To fulfill their responsibility for ensuring a safe working environment, employers are finding it imperative to take action to prevent violent situations and abusive or threatening behavior. Every public institution needs a policy and procedures to prevent violence from occurring and an orderly process for dealing with violence and conduct that is abusive or threatening in the workplace.